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Happenings at the Lyon House

It’s almost 3:30 am and I can’t sleep, so I thought I’d try to wear my brain down by writing a blog. Last time I wrote was right before Liesel turned 4 months old and on Sunday she turned 5 months old! It seems weird to me that she’s not a newborn anymore. She’s quite a bit smaller than the boys were, so it doesn’t seem right that she is able to sit up in a boppy pillow and roll over!

I’m still taking pictures of her each month with the doll Natalie. Here is her 4 month picture.

This month though, she did not want to lie on her back. She kept rolling over and trying to see this strange baby who doesn’t pull away when she tries to gouge out her eyes. Here she is at 5 months.

On some of our nice spriny days, I’ve sent the boys out to play. James has put up a fence around the back yard so that they can’t take off into the road, at least not too quickly. On one such excursion, Shiloh found a nice juicy worm and they brought it in to show me.

Then Shiloh thought it might be fun to throw the worm at me. Little stinker!

Also of interest, on a Wednesday morning whim, James shaved his head and I gave both boys hair cuts! I don’t have a picture of all three of them, I need to pull out my camera for these types of events, but here are the handsome boys.

This picture was taken during one of our ‘PE’ lessons in ‘homeschool.’ We just go with the flow so far, no really strict schedules or curriculum, but I have Tracing books that the kids do. In them there are interesting pictures where we trace the roads or paths and then talk about the picture we’re tracing. One picture was a walk through the zoo where some peacocks were pictured. The boys hadn’t learned about peacocks before, so we hopped on You Tube and educated ourselves. We’ve also learned about lots of different instruments on You Tube. (Aslan plans on playing the cello while Shiloh wants to be a drummer.) Anyway, on this particular day we were making the ‘loop-d-loops’ of an ice skater with crayons. They’d never seen an ice skater, so we headed the the computer. After they’d gotten their fill of ice skating on You Tube we created our own personal rink in the kitchen by moving our table and chairs into the living room and finding some nice soft socks to wear. We blasted music and they boys skated around. I’ve posted a video of it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g85w6aZ5OL4 . Here are some pictures of them skating:

Homeschooling is so much fun! I’ve recently fallen in love with books by Dr. Ruth Beechick. She’s a Christian who strongly believes in homeschooling and schooling naturally. I’ve read her book “Language and Thinking for Young Children” which is a curriculum for about a kindergarten level that gives parents guidelines for teaching their kids language arts in a semi-scheduled and very free and interesting way. I am currently reading her book “The Three R’s.” Sonlight Curriculum, the curriculum I want to use eventually, based their progrom largely off of her books. Since we can’t afford Sonlight right now, I’m doing whatever I can on my own. God is teaching me a lot in this time of not spending anything extra. I’m realizing that it’s good for me, too. I could spend so much money on educational materiels, not just for the boys but for my own enjoyment, too. For this time that James doesn’t have a job, I’m learning to sit back and rely on my own creativity. I’m reading books, looking things up online, and having an enriching time being with my kids. God is also pounding into my brain that while ‘the three R’s’ are very important and fun to teach, there are things that are FAR more important, like developing good character, peaceful attitudes, and self-discipline in my kids and in myself.

Though I have my ups and downs, I am trying to trust God with our finances. Before, it seemed like it was up to us to earn money, but now that James’ industry has basically disappeared, we’re having to come to grips with the fact that it was always God providing for us and we have to trust Him to do so now. I am memorizing and meditating on 1 Peter 5:6-7. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” The first part of that reminds me that God is King, which makes a good deal of sense to me. I don’t really have a choice but to submit to Him. Anything else is foolish. What the women of my church have brought to my attention is that I have trouble seeing God as a Father. He is! I can crawl on His lap and be His trusting child, like our kids do with James. I can give Him all my worries because, even though He is an all powerful King, He’s also a Papa who cares. I need that truth to be hidden deep in my heart, otherwise I lose hope. The whole realization of this weakness in how I view God came about because I was jealously wanting any curriculum that I could get a hold of. I’m glad that God is teaching me instead of just giving me everything I thought I wanted. I am more content and the boys and I are having a terrific time with everything that is at our right in front of us.

A few days ago the kids and I walked to the library. Last time I did that I carried Liesel in the sling and pushed the boys in the double stroller that doesn’t go straight. My back was killing me for about a week and a half. This time, I put Liesel in the little umbrella stroller and had the boys walk holding on to the sides of the stroller. We had a blast! The boys were obedient and kept a better pace than when they hold my hands. They asked questions and we talked and talked and TALKED, which we don’t do when they are sitting in front of me in a stroller. We talked about the wind and how the Holy Spirit is a little bit like the wind because we can’t see Him but we can see what He does. We talked about how the roots of trees go down to drink water and they are so strong that they push up the chunks of the sidewalk. We looked at electrical poles and lines and how they go to houses. We talked about the flowers starting to come out and the seasons. Theboys even remembered the spot where lavender grows since I always stopped there last year to pick some for each of us to smell. We talked about so much! It was mostly Aslan asking the questions, but I was amazed at how much both of them retained and relayed to James at dinner that night! I am so thankful for those kiddos! Sometimes they drive me crazy and I know we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, but I am so grateful for them. Speaking of driving me crazy, I’d better wrap of this entry. If I don’t get some sleep I’ll be especially irritable with those little ones tomorrow! Here are a couple more pictures of the girly:

2 Responses

Hey there, just “thumbing through” your blog and thought I would drop a hi. Once Aslan hits 5 you qualify for whatever money the state would throw at a school to have him in it from year to year, so look into it. You have to go through a homeschool group to get it, I know where to do it in Whatcom county but not so much Skagit. I do know it is PLENTY of money to get curriculum + do extra curricular activities such as music lessons/field trips. Some groups are more organized about the money and doing things as a group or buying from certain places, others less organized. Anyway, just FYI
Any news on the job front for James?